Crisis and transformation
Subtitle: the kibbutz at century's end
By: Eliezer Ben-Rafael.
Series: SUNY series in Israeli studies
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 282
Subjects: Kibbutzim
Other titles: Kibbutz at century's end
Description: This book examines kibbutz life following the Israeli economic crisis of 1985, focusing on the kibbutz's dramatic transformation from a well-defined social structure to a collective identified principally by its cultural preoccupations. It centers on the contradictions endemic to kibbutz identity.

Ben-Rafael shows how the crisis brought together a general pro-change Zeitgeist with the interests of the kibbutz's stronger social segments and individuals to produce widespread changes and the fragmentation of kibbutz reality as a whole. The book's findings are based on a large-scale research investigation (1991-1994) headed up by Ben-Rafael that included twenty research studies and involved the participation of researchers from diverse social-science disciplines.

The book also provides a statistical abstract and a comprehensive kibbutz bibliography.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-270) and index.